AN OUTLOOK UPON LIFE 



spirit. For a rich man to lead the simple life is about 

 as hard as for a camel to go through the needle's 

 eye. How many things stand between him and the 

 simple open air of our common humanity ! Marcus 

 Aurelius thought a man might be happy even in 

 a palace ; but it takes a Marcus Aurelius — a man 

 whose simplicity of character is incorruptible — to 

 be so. Yet I have no disposition to rail at wealth 

 as such, though the penalties and dangers that 

 attend it are very obvious. I never expect to see 

 it go out of fashion. Its unequal distribution in all 

 times, no doubt, results from natural causes. 



Sooner or later things find their proper level, and 

 the proper level of some things is on top. In the 

 jostle and strife of this world the strong men, the 

 master minds, are bound to be on top. This is 

 inevitable ; the very laws of matter are on their side. 



Not socialism, or any other "ism," can perma- 

 nently equalize the fortunes of men. The strong 

 wiU dominate, the weak must succumb. "For 

 whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he 

 shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath 

 not, from him shall be taken away even that he 

 hath." Power draws power; inefficiency loses even 

 that which it hath. To abolish poverty, to abolish 

 wealth, we must first abolish the natural inequality 

 among mankind. It is as if some men had longer 

 arms than others and could reach the fruit on the 

 tree of opportunity beyond the grasp of their com- 

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